Happy Easter!!

Hi readers,

Just a quick message to wish you a very happy Easter, whether you're religious or not I hope you all manage to find a little time to enjoy with you're family. 

It's 10.25pm and we have literally just finished setting up an Easter egg hunt and some gifts for Xander. We are spending the day with our families and Easter Monday we have a large group of friends around for a gathering and an Easter egg hunt for the kids!!!

What are your plans over Easter? Feel free to leave a comment below and make sure you have a good one!  

Being a mum: the one job without sick days!

As I mentioned briefly in a previous post, last September I returned back to work three days a week as a teacher. 

I'll be honest the whole transition back to work was tough (but I'll leave that for another post). We cobble together childcare on those three days. One day hubby has Xander, another day my mum and then he goes to nursery one day a week, however one thing I didn't consider is what happens if you're ill AND what happens if your little one is ill OR the person who is suppose to be looking after your little one whilst you're at work?!

 

All of a sudden I've gone from a worker with a fairly good attendance record to someone in the past I would have complained about, problem being it's all utterly beyond your control. If you're child is ill then no one will look after them, you have little choice but to forfeit a day of work to care for them. Then conscious you've already taken time off work (and may need to again in the future), you then go into work ill ... And that makes you more ill. You can't win!!

I've recently had to take two weeks signed off work for being unwell, I simply had been Ill too long and ran myself into the ground. But how easy is it to recover with a toddler running around insisting on constant 24 hour entertaining! This is when I came to the realisation once you become a mother there's no such thing as sick days ... In fact sometimes work is viewed as having a rest!

So my question for you is: how do you deal with the daily grind of work alongside children? Who helps out when you or your little one is ill? How understanding are your work when you call in sick or call in to take a day off to look after your little ones?

Please leave comments below (and please do not leave explicit names of workplaces in your comments) 

A message from a frantically busy mummy...

You probably all have thought I'd fallen off the face of the earth! Hang on ... I said 'all' I'm assuming that someone is still glancing at this blog from time to time?!? I'm so, so sorry. I have no excuse for not blogging for such a long time apart from: life has got in the way! I started back to work officially last September. 3 days a week, but that is more than enough! We've sadly had bereavements in the family, moved house and started renovating it and on top of all that I've been Ill for the last month or so... Anyway, I was lying in bed and all of a sudden an urge came over me to blog and just say hi!

Xander is now 19 months! Can you believe it?! I certainly can't! He is walking, talking, singing, counting and generally up to mischief! I'm still enjoying motherhood but boy, it does not get any easier!! 

I promise to visit back soon, bit thought I'd leave you now with a little photo update of our little toddler!

Xander is one!

I can't quite believe it! I'm a mummy to a ONE year old! Xander turned one on Thursday and we have had a whole week of birthday celebrations! Over the next few weeks I intend to publish some blog posts about planning first birthday parties and gift reviews!! So keep revisiting!

I will leave you for now with a few photos of our gorgeous little man! I can't believe how much he has grown and developed in just a year! Every single day he astounds me with his intelligence and confidence. He makes me so proud!! 

First Steps!

A quick post today! Just to inform all my regular followers of Xander's latest milestone! He's walking!!!! It started slowly with him pulling himself up and walking around furniture at 9 months. By 10 months he was taking his first steps and now with just two weeks until his first birthday he is getting quite brave and walking quiet long distances. I'm guessing he'll be we'll and truly mobile by his first birthday!!! I'm so proud of my little man!! (Sorry for the blurry pic - he's fast!!) 

Xander's First Swim!

As mentioned in my last post a couple of weeks ago we took Xander swimming for the first time!

We are off on holiday in a few days time (to visit relatives in Spain) and whilst there we hope to go swimming several times and so wanted to get Xander a bit familiar with the concept of swimming so it wasn't a completely new experience.

We opted to take Xander to a swimming pool called Coral Reef in Bracknell. It is not our nearest pool but we had been informed by other parents it was a good place to take little ones. If you live anywhere near we wholeheartedly recommend it as a place to take kids swimming! It was a fantastic experience from start to finish!

Xander absolutely loved swimming! He was a complete dare devil! Loving the water cannons and splashing mummy and daddy! We was amazed by the way the kicking in the water came natural to him! He adored the experience completely and was clearly disappointed to get out!

Below is a little review of all the features Coral Reef in Bracknell had to offer. Please note I was not paid in anyway for these comments. They are simply observations of a family day out that I felt were worthy of a share:

- you have to pay for parking but if you use the swimming facilities you get this refunded back at the desk.
- the prices were very reasonable. There is a parent and baby/toddler loyalty scheme where if you visit 5 times you get the 6th time free! You just pick up a card and get it stamped.
- there were several family changing rooms. In them was a changing unit and also a seat that you can strap your little one too whilst you are changing. (a couple of them also had playpens)
- swimming aids (rings and armbands) are provided free of charge to use and there are plenty of them)
- during the week in term time the pool is for young children only.
- the temperature of the pool is lovely! Pretty much bath temperature! Which meant we stayed much longer than anticipated!
- there is a lot of areas specifically for babies and toddlers! Shallow areas with toys and slides for them to play with!
- a lovely feature was they have their own photographer there. Like most public pools you are not able to take your own photographs but if you're anything like me I love photographing everything Xander does and definitely wanted his first swim documented! The professional photographer took some great photos which we viewed and purchased on the way out!

So to finish off this post I leave you with a family pic of Xander's first swimming experience!

Bank Holiday Fun!

My hubby works in retail, so unfortunately bank holidays are pretty much like any other working day to him. Which means that often I/we miss out on usual bank holiday fun.

However my step-sister visited from Milton Keynes yesterday and so we decided to make the most of the beautiful sunshine and take the boys out for the day!

We stayed reasonably local and visited Alice Holt Forest. A woodland area owned and ran by the Forestry Commission. It's a fantastic place with several walks (including a trail called the habitat trail designed especially for little ones with large play structures throughout the walk!), bike riding facilities, a Go Ape tree ropes activity centre, cafe and huge play area!

Our first major challenge was parking! We completely underestimated the amount of people who had the same idea as us! The parking was manic. The result was one of us parking in the carpark and another parking out on the road. We eventually solved it and found a picnic spot!

This was Xander's first picnic and I think he enjoyed it! I packed lots of finger food (pitta strips with houmous dip, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, banana) which was a good move as we was without a Highchair. Although Xander still managed to get completely messy! Although no where near as messy as when he tried mummy's icecream!

After lunch we headed to the play park. In all honesty my nephew probably had the most fun here. There was less available for under ones and I had to queue for the baby swings. (several of the children that went in them before hand were far top big to be going in them which annoyed me quite a bit!)

After tiring out the boys we headed to the trail for our walk! It was lovely with the sunshine to take a leisurely stroll around although by this point Xander was exhausted and slept most of it!!

All in all we had a really lovely day out! I hope you managed to make the most of the beautiful weather!